40.79°N 76.41°W · Mount Carmel, PA · Anthracite Region
The internet isn't a cloud — it's buildings, on real ground, in real towns. A new data center in Mount Carmel would put this valley back to work doing what it has always done: powering the country's daily life.
Everything the country runs on now lives as data — medical records, bank ledgers, personal financial records, power grids, our family pics and social media posts, pictures and videos and all the files of every business on Main Street. All of it has to be stored somewhere physical: in a building, on servers, on a patch of real ground. It all has to live somewhere. Why not here?
The Stakes
Every photo, ledger, and medical record sits on servers in a real building, on a real street, in somebody's hometown — and for decades those buildings have gone to the same handful of places. The towns that host them get the investment that comes with them. The next generation of data centers doesn't have to be built where the last one was.
This valley has ground that knows how to work. The anthracite beneath it powered the country's homes and steel for a century — and it's ready for a second shift, carrying the data the country runs on now. Getting it ready means fixing the land first: abandoned mine ground cleaned up, voids grouted and compacted, engineered into a stable, build-ready site before anything goes vertical.
This ground powered a century. Let it power the next one.— The case for Mount Carmel
The Numbers
Independent economists modeled what building and operating a single data center building here would mean for the region. These are their estimates — the same numbers shown at the July 21 open house.
in total economic activity from one data center building — construction and operations combined
direct jobs to build and run it, plus 2,431 more indirect and induced jobs across the region
in direct employee compensation — an average of $179,460 per job, benefits included
in estimated taxes to the Mount Carmel Area School District, plus $4.7M to the Township
Source: estimates generated via IMPLAN from May 2026 construction-cost estimates for a single data center building. Estimated tax impacts also include $4.9M to Northumberland County and $39M to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Full figures and methodology are on the open-house boards (PDF).
The Commitments
The questions every town should ask about a project this size — answered with the same specifics presented at the open house.
Commitment 01 · The Water
Cooling is air-cooled and closed-loop — the water inside recirculates instead of being drawn and evaporated. Total demand is comparable to a small office building, or fewer than 20 homes. Wastewater is pretreated to meet or exceed regulation before it reaches the public sewer, and any water-system upgrades are paid for by the project.
Total demand< 20 homes
Commitment 02 · The Bill
Pennsylvania utilities follow a cost-causation rule: the customer creating the need for new infrastructure pays for it. The developer funds the project-specific electrical infrastructure and upgrade costs — residents aren't responsible for those expenses — and the same upgrades add capacity and reliability to the grid that serves Mount Carmel homes and businesses.
Developer share100%
Commitment 03 · The Air
Primary power comes from fuel cells that generate electricity electrochemically — no combustion in the stack. Backup generators meet EPA Tier 4 Final, cutting NOx by roughly 90% and particulate matter by up to 95% versus older engine tiers, and they run only for testing and grid outages.
Backup standardTier 4 Final
The Open House
On July 21 the team welcomed residents and business owners of Mt. Carmel Township and Borough, Kulpmont, and Marion Heights to the Coal Region Sports Complex for an evening of straight answers, station by station. If you couldn't make it, the boards from the room are posted here.
July 21
Visitors walked the room at their own pace. Each station was staffed by a subject-matter expert on one question:
Still have a question the boards don't answer? Send it through the contact form and an expert will get back to you.
Bring the hard questions the internet won't answer — sit down with the people doing the work and get a straight answer, in person or in writing.
Missed the July 21 open house? The boards are posted here.
Get answers
